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Twitch Plays Pokémon/Season 3

This article is incomplete.Please feel free to edit this article to add missing information and complete it. Reason: Cleanup; needs large reorganization to correctly split what was AC-exclusive and what is Season-exclusive; may need to defer this to after PBR 2.0 is released; e.g. right now there is a bunch of stuff under Gameplay/input changes that belongs under the AC run. AC ROM changes are also very, very far behind stream discoveries and may also need to be deferred until after the patch is released (within a few days according to subreddit).

This article contains old or outdated information, or has not been updated in a while. Please check the content of this article and update it as required. Specifically, it needs information on runs following Anniversary Crystal.

Twitch Plays Pokémon's third season began on February 14, 2016. It is anticipated to be its first 'routine' season, consisting of four runs (after the second season was extended to five runs).

Each run is the equivalent to a season episode, and can be referred to by number (e.g. S01R03). Timestamps mentioned in this article follow the format of "#d #h #m #s" (day, hour, minute, second).

Contents

System changes

Gameplay/input changes

The run restores the anarchy/democracy "tug-of-war" system from the first original Red run where voting is allowed at any time; the bar now also displays the current percentage of democracy votes. However, like in later runs, vote inputs are displayed under each side of the bar rather than as part of the main input feed. Vote inputs count toward the percentage for 15 minutes before being removed; they may be renewed for another 15 minutes by voting again at any time.

The switching thresholds were originally set equal to the original run, where switching to democracy required an 80% supermajority and switching back to anarchy required a 51% majority (or a 49% minority voting for democracy); about four hours before the main run began, the streamer increased the democracy threshold to 90%. ProjectRevoTPP, one of the developers, has stated that at least one area will require democracy mode to complete. Unlike in previous games, it is now possible to perform simultaneous inputs (for example, "a+b") during democracy mode.

Interface/Side games

As the start of a new season, the stream interface has been thoroughly overhauled:

As with the first anniversary run, the current party is displayed to the left.

Below the party display is the chat log, which now scrolls vertically, replacing the previous horizontally scrolling chat bar. Donation messages also appear here.

At the bottom left is a side game of Pokémon Pinball, replacing the slots from previous PBR intermissions. As with the slots, tokens are used to start a game and bet on its outcome; the more points that are scored in the game, the more the payout will be (with exact multipliers varying both on the table and over time). The game's inputs are performed automatically once started and are not chat controlled.

Main game and stream statistics are displayed to the right of the Pinball screen, including the player's money, Badge count, and Pokédex completion along with the current UTC time, the stream's view count, and the current run's timestamp and input count.

At the bottom middle is a horizontally scrolling feed of various information, including subreddit pictures, donation records, an explanation of the Pinball sidegame, the five most recent stream followers, a screenshot and stats from the marioparty247 side stream, a subscription ad, and the stream's current view and follower count.

At the bottom right is a sidegame of Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team, played in "Congress mode" with a single democracy-mode input every 240 seconds. It is also possible for a user to bribe others to vote for a certain button (perhaps as a further satire of "Congress mode") by allocating tokens for that button such that voters who choose it will have a chance to receive those tokens.

As usual, the current list of inputs as well as the anarchy/democracy bar is displayed to the right.

2 days and 19 hours before the start of the main run, the streamer took down the Season 1-2 PBR interface and hosted the marioparty247 side channel for approximately 1 hour while the new interface was set up. After the new interface was put up, the streamer put on Mario Golf for the Game Boy Color to test the emulator and input system, followed by a continuation of the previous intermission's Pokémon Trading Card Game save file. The Twitch players completed the remainder of the save file about 19 hours before the main run started, after which the streamer put on a fan-translated English patch of Pokémon Card GB2: Here Comes Team GR!. The stream was switched to Anniversary Crystal's title screen 20 minutes prior to the run starting.

R01: Pokémon Anniversary Crystal

In the same manner as how Season 2 began on the one-year anniversary of the original run, Season 3 began on the original run's two-year anniversary, with a modified version of Pokémon Crystal where all 251 Generation II Pokémon can and will need to be caught to complete the run. The run started on February 14, 2016 at 21:00 UTC. At approximately 1d 0h 41mc, the new overlay crashed, showing an error screen. The stream had to be stopped for two hours while the developers fixed the issues with the overlay's script[1]. The game later continued at 1d 2h 12m. The players defeated the Elite Four, Lance, and their rival, Azure, at around 12d 4h 25m. The players captured all 251 Pokémon at around 29d 16h 18m. The players defeated the Elite Four, Lance, and their rival, Azure, at around 30d 1h 14m. Twitch completed the final battle of the mod at around 30d 4h 33m, and in the post-game, gave party mainstay Kenya the Noctowl to Randy's friend at approximaterly 30d 5h 33m.

New to this run is an input system dubbed "military mode"[2], performed by inputting the commands "move", "switch", "item", or "run" with relevant parameters. These commands will be accepted only during the "Waiting!" screen and are independent of anarchy/democracy mode (the commands can be entered during either mode). However, on occasion, military mode will be put on hold while bugs are fixed.

ROM changes

Based on confirmed information so far, the game looks to be more ambitious than the previous anniversary run. The channel's streamer has stated that over $1,000 has gone towards the development of the game[3], and the development team is known to be larger, including acclaimed creator of the hack Pokémon Brown, Koolboyman.[4] The game features a sophisticated external AI engine programmed in Python and created by user Beesafree.[5] The AI is known to switch out tactically (while ordinary in-game AIs will almost never do so) and has been stated as being able to predict up to 5 turns in advance. The AI also applies to wild Pokémon, who will focus on annoying or stalling the player rather than outright winning.

After talking to the captain of the S.S. Anne, the boat will leave port with the player in it, on course to Olivine City. However, Team Rocket will commandeer the ship, kidnapping the captain, leaving it to the player to stop them. The player, therefore, does not receive HM01 (Cut).

During the invasion, the player's badges are stolen. The thief is later revealed to be Burglar Simon from FireRed and LeafGreen, who is a recurring minor antagonist in this storyline.

The player then fights never-ending waves of Team Rocket Grunts. When the player loses, the game will continue with no penalty to the player.

The S.S. Anne crashes, and the player washes ashore in Cherrygrove City, where they learn they have been "away" for three months. After healing their Pokémon, the player is told by the Guide Gent to see Professor Elm in New Bark Town. Upon arriving, the player reunites with their mom, who moved to Johto. Afterwards, the player meets Elm, who gives them a Johto Starter Pokémon and asks them to see Mr. Pokémon. The plot then continues to follow Crystal's, including meeting and naming Silver, who acts as their second rival.

If the player tries to go to Olivine City first, their passage to the Glitter Lighthouse will be blocked by Team Rocket Grunts who appear to be planning to kidnap Amphy but are being stopped by Jasmine's Steelix. The roadblock is cleared after defeating Pryce.

After defeating Lance, the player's first rival is revealed to be the true Champion, increasing the gauntlet of Trainers at Indigo Plateau to six.[6] Lance will offer to fully restore the player's party before the final battle.

Upon returning to Kanto, the region more closely resembles its Generation II state. For example, the NPC trainers from the Kanto story have been replaced, the Lavender Radio Tower has replaced the Pokémon Tower, and the Nugget Bridge challenge has been moved to Route 25.

Because they player's badges were stolen on the S.S. Anne, the player must reacquire badges by battling Brock and Misty again.

Gameplay changes

On the nickname screen, the cursor now starts off pointing at a random character instead of "A".

Before the start of every turn, the screen will display "Waiting!" as it would in a link battle, at which time the game will communicate with the external AI. The script will also accept inputs for "military mode" at this time, if it is enabled.

Some wild Pokémon locations appear to at least partially match that of Anniversary Red, with for example Cubone, Pikachu, and Exeggcute able to be found on Route 1.

The time of day mechanics appear to have been altered and/or sped up, with for example the in-game clock starting at midnight regardless of the player's choice at the start of the game, and transitioning to morning about 1 hour and 40 minutes later.

Some modifications have been made to the movepools of certain Pokémon. For example, Bulbasaur can now learn Mud-Slap at Level 15. Not all of these modifications have been discovered or revealed at this time.

NPC Trainers and Gym Leaders have different Pokémon lineups to reflect the changed flow of the story. Wild and Gift Pokémon are encountered at higher levels.

The player takes a Dome or Helix Fossil while traveling through a fully restored Mt. Moon, after fighting the Super Nerd, Miguel. The player can restore their choice at the Ruins of Alph. The Omanyte the players revived was holding the dummy item Teru-sama. Upon returning to Mt. Moon after Johto, a ladder appears on the first floor that takes the player to Mt. Moon Square. The player can also challenge Miguel again. Upon victory, the player can visit him daily for more fossils.

A series of "Status Guard" held items have been successfully implemented (these existed in original Gold and Silver's code but were never used[7]) When held they prevent their respective status condition, but it is not consumed upon use.

Like most Dex hacks, the game changes how trade evolutions work to make trading unecessary. For example, in Seadra's case, it merely needs to level up while holding the Dragon Scale to evolve into Kingdra.

Upon revisiting the Sea Cottage after Johto, the player finds a locked door in the back, which unlocks after collecting all 16 badges. Behind it is a garden where the player can find all five available Eeveelutions.

The program copies the player's current party, including nicknames, gender, levels, and moves and battles with it.

The destroyed Cinnabar Island is expanded so that the player can climb the mountain, similar to HeartGold and SoulSilver. The expanded area includes the new dungeon Cinnabar Volcano. The dungeon is filled with lava, Strength boulders puzzles, and Fire-type Pokémon. According to the developers, it is one of the largest additions to the game.[9]

Some Gym leaders have alternate Gym designs during their rematches.

After defeating AIIIAAB and completing the Pokédex, a cave opens behind him. The cave contains ruins, where at the end, the player fights Professor Elm, the true final boss. Elm uses Level 100 Donphan, Tyranitar, Houndoom, Corsola, Xatu, and the Johto starter weak to the one the player picked.

From Generation IV, the background music of an area will pick up where it left off after a battle, rather than restarting.

The Coin Case appears to be able to hold up to 50,000 Coins, and some version of Voltorb Flip is known to be playable. If the player wins ten games of Voltorb Flip in a row, they supposedly win a special prize.[10]

The Pokémon status screen has a new page describing where and when the Pokémon was caught, at what level, and gives it a characteristic.

Features and Elements from TPP lore

Like in Anniversary Red, the nickname screen automatically appears without a yes/no prompt after receiving or catching a Pokémon, and the Start button cannot be used to immediately confirm a name.

In Celadon City, the player will find the ruins of the Battle Tent from Pokémon TPP Version. In the ruins, there is a staircase that leads to the ruins of the Rocket Hideout from Generation I, complete with spin tiles, which were added back to the game. At the end of the ruins is Simon, who after being defeated by the player, leaves behind the GS Ball to make a clean getaway. Afterwards, the player can restore the Battle Tent's generators.

With the Battle Tent gone, the Battle Tower takes its place, rewarding players with money proportionate to the amount of trainers defeated instead of Vitamins.

Back at the Battle Tent, the player meets Bill, who came to repair the Battle Tent. He challenges the player to a battle using his Level 100 team consisting of Eevee and all its available Eeveelutions. After being defeated, Bill gives the player HM06 (Whirlpool).

Blue uses his champion team from TPP Red.

After the player defeats Blue, he unlocks the TM depot from TPP Red for the player. Like in TPP Red, it is in the basement floor of the Celadon Department Store.

After the player collects all 16 badges, they can speak to Professor Oak to trigger Level 100 rematches with all 16 Gym Leaders. However, some leaders won't accept battles until the player completes other tasks.

After completing all 16 Gym Leader rematches, the player can fight Professor Oak, who uses his team from TPP Red. Completing it unlocks the rematch teams for the Elite Four, Lance, and Azure. The player then gains access to Mt. Silver.

The player can fight AJDNNW, the protagonist of Twitch Plays Pokémon's original playthrough of Crystal in the Trainer House, where he replaces Cal. AJDNNW uses a level 100 variant of his final team from the playthrough.

Upon attempting to enter Mt. Silver, the player is stopped by the Red of the original Pokémon Red playthrough. Like always, Red uses his endgame team from the game.

Red is replaced by AIIIAAB, the character Twitch played as in Pokémon TPP Version. His mother moves into the player's old home after their mother moves out. Like Red, the player fights AIIIAB at the top of Mt. Silver, and uses his endgame team from Twitch's playthrough.

Pokémon

As with a select few previous runs, gameplay on the stream continued after the run's final objective was completed and the credits rolled; the information below corresponds to the save file at the time of the credit roll and not afterward.

For more information regarding Pokémon caught and items obtained, see here.